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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Get rich quick - Real or myth?

Channel news Asia reported 2 days ago that the number of rich in Singapore is on the rise. It was reported that "The number of millionaires here rose by 4.5 per cent last year to about 105,000, according to the latest World Wealth Report from Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management." This means if we take a population of 5.5 Million in Singapore, there is one millionaire in approximately every 52 people. These millionaires are defined as having US$1 Million or more in investable assets.

Young people in Singapore are influenced by the prosperity of the nation and want to be part of the rich and successful bunch of people. However, many get themselves into trouble by venturing into the unknown. This can be dabbling in stocks, starting an unfamiliar business or lured by high returns investment schemes. The question is: what is real and what is myth?

Real or myth?

We've heard of traders who can make tens of thousands a day just by trading in the stock market. We've heard people who made a fortune through starting a business. All these influence young people to want to go into trading and starting a business. From what I see, these two are the most common ventures young people in their 20s would get into.

However, what most of us read on the internet or through advertisements from the newspaper is often not suitable for most of us. If you dig deeper, there are more cases of losers than winners in trading and business. It is an illusion that one can be successful in a very short time.

The Reality
Most people get rich by having a frugal lifestyle and slowly growing their money. You mean I have to sacrifice and control my spending then still need to have patience to wait to get rich? Yes, this is the real way to get rich which most people do not want to hear. That is why no matter how the number of millionaires are increasing, it's always a small portion of the population. In this case for Singapore, its only about 2% of the 5.5 Million population.

Secrets of the rich revealed
In my course of work for the past 4 years, i've got the chance to interact with a few of the rich because they are the VIPs I had to handle. They are CEO of big mega corporations and also influential business persons.
My observations are mostly similar for most of them. More often than not, they have common traits which separates them from the poor and middle class. I will share some of the traits which I observed but will not reveal who they are for obvious reasons.

1) They are nice and humble people

Every time when I meet these successful people, they will always provide the best hospitality that they can. Most of the time I'll be there at their house to solve their problems which they complained about. Rather than being nasty since they have the right to complain, they prefer to talk nicely and be reasonable to listen to possible resolutions. Many of us think that rich people look down on average people but in actual fact, they respect each person regardless of the background you come from.

2) They have good living environments

Yes, they are rich and they spend on creating a good environment in their house. There will always be a small corner with books and music players where they can relax and spend some time reading. There will also be a balcony with a dining table and some plants or even a garden for them to have their meals. Their house is always neat and tidy. Well, this is because they have a maid or even 2 maids in one house.

3) They love to read

That's why they have a reading corner. But the shocking fact is the amount of books they have. I reckon its more than 500 books seen in each house. Most books are on personal development, business development and management.They also have a huge biography of books of other successful people.

4) They are confident in the way they act and speak

They talk very well. This is the one trait that I noticed. Because of their experience and the time they spent reading and interacting with people, they have a lot of knowledge which enables them to talk intellectually.

5) They have a good network

I have heard from them personally that they know this CEO and that CEO. They also have networks with politicians and even ministers. Whether they developed their network before they are successful or after they became successful is not known to me.

6) Their children have the best education

Most of their children are either studying in an overseas university or studying in a private International baccalaureate program in Singapore. I saw a few of their test papers and they had quite good results too. Must have been really hard working to study.

These are the few things which I observed so far. It seems like knowledge and a good network are two important factors to be successful. To achieve either one, it will take hard work and a lot of time to build up. Trading requires hard work and an extremely strong psychology state of mind which most people are not able to achieve. Starting a business requires knowledge and a good network to be sustainable. If you have no knowledge of how a business is run internally or have not even started working at all, then starting a business is extremely risky for you. Wanting to be a successful businessman without any working experience may be just a dream for many. Get rich quick is certainly a myth for most except for a few lucky ones. However, the luck will fade away one day and its back to square one in the end.

22 comments:

Somebody has been observing the "goldfish" personally with first hand information ;)

"Whether they developed their network before they are successful or after they became successful is not known to me." - I think you will have your answer if you are able to find out when they picked up golf or when they joined that exclusive country club ;)

Good to see your comment. Yes, mindset is important to become rich. Its all about the mindset at first.

Trading can become gambling if one become too greedy and lose control. Was just talking to a friend who seem successful at forex trading at first for the first 2 years but later on lost 200k+. I asked him what happened and he said was because of greediness.

and by the way, tell your friend that through this experience of losing money just like i did, next time, if he is to trade again, whenever he is consistenly making money trading, instead of jumping with joy, be more worry about somewhere or something is going to go very wrong instead!

I really never think of i want to be rich. How much you have is then rich? i think of how pitiful of people who can't even afford a "BIG MAC". i am only really very afraid of being being poor till i can't afford the "BIG MAC". So they say if you are afraid of something too much, you will find a solution to it. You may over-compensate what you fear most lol. i think i have been over compensating all these years. Time to relax a bit?(Thanks for reminding me accidentally)Shalom.

Now its no longer about being afraid to be poor. The current generation of young people always want to earn a lot of money and earn them fast. This is what I see in my friends and even my cousins. I'm having reservice this week and the conversation is always around trading, gambling and doing business. These are all ways to earn money fast but many may fail to see that its not so easy and they may just lose everything there.

For me, I prefer the slow and steady method of accumulating and investing while building up passive income. This has been done before by many others. Why people don't like this method is because they have to save money, be patient and wait for many years.

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